Blu-ray Review: Genndy Tartakovsky’s PRIMAL: The Complete Second Season

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Apr 24, 2023 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Disclaimer: “Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray^TM I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

In the first season of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, caveman Spear (Aaron LaPlante) and a dinosaur Fang, formed an unlikely friendship after a shared tragedy. The two journeyed across the primordial land, struggling to survive, with new, deadly dangers waiting around every corner. As the season came to a close, the duo was joined by human Mira. However, she was soon captured and taken onto a ship, which headed out to sea. Helpless and unable to pursue, Spear desperately cried out her name.

The second season picks up immediately where we left off, with Spear and Fang hitting the open sea on their homemade raft, on a mission to find and rescue Mira. However, along the way they meet some new friends, encounter dangerous new animal, nature and human threats and civilizations, and even find themselves prisoners of an evil. However, once again, despite having nearly any dialogue, the season does an excellent job of conveying the thoughts and emotions of these characters. This dangerous world of theirs really comes to life, with characters that feel fully-fleshed out, and are able to say so much without even speaking, or with just an unintelligible word or grunt, or a simple gesture or hand motion. The general theme of this second season seems to evolution, and the viewer is taken along this journey, feeling the sadness, joy, excitement and humor along with these characters, getting truly invested in their fate and experiences. The series is action-packed, raw, and gory, and takes the viewer on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and genres, from fear and fantasy, to happiness and joy, to tragedy and loss, and even some comedy. There’s also a special standalone episode in the middle of this second season set in “modern” 1890 England that has more dialogue, but still maintains the same feeling of the series, and really serves to enforce this idea of evolution that runs through the season.

A rundown of the ten second season episodes is as follows:

“Sea of Despair” – After Mira is taken away on a ship, Spear builds a raft so that he and Fang can follow and rescue her. However, it’s an arduous trek for the duo on the open sea, with the sun beating down on them, a lack of food, and storms and sea creatures threatening their lives.
“Shadow of Fate” – Spear and Fang are separated on a new beach, each making some new friends—Fang teams up with another dinosaur in order to search for food, while Spear awakes to find himself in a Viking village where he is fed and has his wounds attended to. But when the duo finally crosses paths, they must make a choice between old friends and new.
“Dawn of Man” – Back on their own, Spear and Fang make their way to a cave, where they find paintings depicting the relationship between man and beast. Spear starts to feel a closer connection to his primal ancestors and goes hunting. They soon discover hope that they are on the right track to finding Mira.
“The Red Mist” – Spear and Fang take on an army of Viking warriors riding bears in an attempt to rescue Mira and her people from slavery, but quickly find themselves severely outnumbered.
“The Primal Theory” – It’s a stormy night in 1890 England and Charles is explaining to his learned friends his theories of how modern man is not that different from Neanderthals. However, when the constable warns them that a madman has escaping the asylum, they are put on edge. The manor soon comes under attack from the feral creature, and the men must embrace their own primal natures in order to survive and stop the savage monster.
“Vidarr” – Spear, Mira and Fang find themselves being pursued by the Viking Chieftain and his son Eldar, who are out to avenge the massacre at their village, but Fang is preoccupied with other matters.
“The Colossaeus, Part I” – Spear, Mira and Fang head back out to sea, but soon find themselves under attack by a bigger and more formidable threat, and Egyptian queen and her massive warship, the Colossaeus. Meanwhile, the Viking Chieftain experiences a fiery revelation.
“The Colossaeus, Part II” – With their loved ones helf captive, Spear, Fang and other slaves like the massive Kamau continue to help the Egyptian queen wage her war against innocent villages, all in the name of her extending her wealth and empire. Meanwhile, a fiery demon emerges.
“The Colossaeus, Part III” – As they are about to be executed, the prisoners make one final attempt at revolt aboard the massive Colossaeus.
“Echoes of Eternity” – The group arrives back on shore at Mira’s homeland, and Spear thinks he may be able to start a normal, happy life. But the celebration is cut short when a fiery demon hellbent on revenge makes its way towards the village.

This series is a visual and aural feast. The animation has a hand-drawn look to it rather than today’s more modern 3D computer animation. However, it still maintains a beautiful and cinematic look, particularly in the more fast-paced action sequences. The deliberate character movements and lighting, such as the flickering of a campfire reflected in those who surround it, also helps adds a sense of realism and feature film quality to the show. Episode 5, which takes place in 1890 England has a classic horror, creature feature tone to it. Even though this is an animated show, it is made for a more mature audience—over the course of the season, there is a lot of amazing action sequences, and many bloody, gory scenes with creatures and humans being torn apart. The story can be a bit brutal and dramatic at times as the Spear, Fang and other characters unleash their more primal natures.

The Blu-ray presentation is solid, with rich colors and detail that look excellent both in bright sunny scenes as well as the darker nighttime sequences. I didn’t really notice any issues with aliasing in the animation like I did in the first season&mdasg;the quality and detail is solid throughout. To help set the tone and mood, the series features an emotional, tense and primitive-sounding score, which really fills the room and builds the excitement. It also done an ecellent job of conveying the emotions of the characters, serving as their voice when there is no dialogue. The audio track also provides a fully-immersive soundscape, bringing the sounds of nature and the roar of battle to life. Whether it’s the sounds of birds and animals, the rough ocean seas, or a bloody and brutal melee, the viewer is transported right there in the middle of it all. The disc offers English subtitles, but since the series has no dialogue, this SDH track just further explains all of these wonderful sounds for those who may not be able to fully experience it.

All 10 episodes reside on a single Blu-ray disc, which is packed in a standard HD keepcase, with a glossy slipcover on top. Unfortunately, unlike the first season release, there is no digital copy included this time around—it seems like Warner Bros. has decided to stop including digital with their newer TV show releases.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (3:42:20)

All 10 episodes of the second season:
“Sea of Despair”, “Shadow of Fate”, “Dawn of Man”, “The Red Mist”, “The Primal Theory”, “Vidarr”, “The Colossaeus, Part I”, “The Colossaeus, Part II”, “The Colossaeus, Part III”, “Echoes of Eternity”
1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French*, Dutch*
*only available on episode 5 and special feature

Extras:

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal: Inside the Evolution (13:44)
In this brand new featurette, creator/director Genndy Tartakovsky, art director Scott Wills, head writer Darrick Bachman and star Aarn LaPlante (“Spear”) sit down together to discuss the show’s second season. They talk about the process of breaking the story, the animation style and process, the vocal performances, adding the sound effects and score, the season’s special fifth episode, how their dog was the inspiration for some of Fang’s actions, some of the Easter eggs hidden in the show, the possible anthology future for the series, and more. Also includes interviews with sound designer Joel Valentine, and composers Tyler Bates & Joanne Higginbottom, behind the scenes footage, storyboards and concept artwork.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Highly Recommended

I was really excited to check out the second season of Primal on this Blu-ray release as I had missed it when it aired on TV, and I can say I found it just as exciting and engaging as the first season. Even without any dialogue, the series takes the viewer on an exciting, tense and emotional journey. The episodes flow right into one another making it an easy binge. When this second season does feel like the conclusion to the Spear and Fang saga, it does leave the viewer with a glimpse of the direction the series could head in next. The Blu-ray presentation is excellent, with solid video and an immersive soundtrack. The disc contains just one short 13-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, and unfortunately there is no digital copy included this time around. However, the release still comes highly recommended based on the quality of the series itself.